


No More Distance

by PrecariousSauce



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 05:24:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6361219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrecariousSauce/pseuds/PrecariousSauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe there really is no better time for a confession than the worst possible time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No More Distance

**Author's Note:**

> So in my very first run of Fire Emblem Awakening, I ended up S-ranking Lon'qu and Lissa RIGHT AFTER CHAPTER NINE. And this just happened AGAIN in my most recent run of the game. I felt like I had to write essentially an alternate version of their S-Rank scene for this event. Due to pacing and such TECHNICALLY they're more doing this after Chapter 10, but the point comes across.

Lon’qu didn’t notice that he’d touched Lissa without hesitation until the moment was already over.

The young princess had been frozen in the chaos, staring past the other retreating Shepherds, past the advancing Plegians, eyes locked on the motionless body of the Exalt. Lon’qu had moved forward, touched her shoulder– the contact made her jump, she almost hit him with her staff as she turned around. But when her eyes met his, the tension drained away in an instant and big salty tears flowed from her pale blue eyes again.

Lon’qu had just frowned and softly said, “Let’s go.” 

Lissa’s nod had been weak and wobbly, but it was enough. She’d ducked close to his side as they ran to catch up with the Shepherds, and Lon’qu _did_ notice how even now she didn’t touch him, didn’t even get close enough for it to happen by accident. His throat ached– he forced his eyes forward and he pressed his mouth into a tight line as they ran.

They fought through the rain and the mire, cutting a path out of Plegia and away from the tragedy, but he knew as well as any other Shepherd that they were still carrying it with them and would no matter how far or how long they ran. Chrom’s stunned silence had turned into unbridled fury, the prince tearing through the soldiers before him like wet paper, his war cries sounding the roars of a feral beast. Robin stayed a step behind him, ever his shadow walking in his bloody wake, taking down any who would attack her prince’s back with a hissed spell and a darkness in her eyes.

Lon’qu almost felt guilty– he wasn’t fighting for the Exalt. She was brave, even inspiring, but he hadn’t known her. He couldn’t find this determination for someone he didn’t know and never would know. No, he was fighting to clear a path as Lissa dragged herself through the battle, her eyes stinging with rain and still flowing tears but she pulled herself ever forward. And _still_ , with them both stuck in the mud and the rain pouring down, with enemies all around and the woman who had raised and loved her still dead on the ground, Lissa only got as close to him as she dared.

He should’ve known all along how strong Lissa was. But it still hit hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

Olivia was a beacon in the darkness; never had Lon’qu ever thought that he’d be _happy_ to see her, but today had proved itself to be full of nothing but unexpected turns. He would’ve leapt into that wagon if he wasn’t so busy looking over his shoulder for Lissa and making sure she got in without incident. He got in on her heels, and though the mud and rain gave them all a few false starts, it wasn’t long before they were riding out of Plegia. That place held nothing but sand, heat, and death. Good riddance to it.

Lon’qu and Lissa weren’t alone in their covered wagon, but it certainly felt like it. Once upon a time he’d wished the princess would leave him be, but now the empty space between them as they sat on opposite ends of the wagon felt like an immeasurably vast gulf. When the wagon had finally moved far enough from danger she’d curled up into a ball, sobbing into her knees with her arms crossed over them. They’d been riding for hours, and not a single thing had made her stop.

With the adrenaline of battle gone and the Exalt’s words already starting to settle in the back of his mind, the prospect of moving closer to Lissa made him break out in a cold sweat. His mind went through all its old rigors, from justifications to replaying that fateful moment in sickening detail– anything to keep him from moving.

But he did.

An inch.

And another.

She didn’t seem to notice, and that let him move just that bit farther each time. He was almost next to her, and much quicker than he thought–

Lissa’s voice suddenly crawled its way out into the air, sounding rough and parched; “You don’t have to come any closer. I know you don’t want to.”

Lon’qu frowned hard; “What makes you think I don’t want to?”

“You hate girls,” Lissa croaked, taking her hands off her knees and raking them through her soaked hair, “You freeze up and try to run from them because you hate them. And you hate me. You hate stupid useless girls who can’t do anything," her voice broke like glass with something between a sob and a wheeze, pressing her face even harder into her knees and burying her nails in her scalp, " _can’t even protect their families I’m weak and pathetic it should’ve been me I should’ve–_ “ 

Lon’qu had already crossed the distance. He reached over the princess, grabbed a slightly musty cloak from the wagon floor, shook it once to get off the dust and draped it around Lissa’s balled-up form. She took her hands off her head and just stared down at it, eyes wide. Slowly, she reached out and pulled the cloak tighter around her. Her pale blue eyes turned to him– they were red around the edges and the tears were still there, but they’d stopped flowing. That was more than enough.

Lon’qu’s mouth pulled into a tired but sincere smirk; “You’re soaking wet. Don’t want to get a cold, right?”

Lissa just stared at him for a second. A tiny smile wavered onto her lips. And just like that, she was giggling, tears coming out in a reflexive trickle as she shook with laughter. She pulled the cloak tighter as she laughed, and Lon’qu let his eyes close as he savored the sound. He found a sound in his memory that he’d been trying to avoid, and was relieved to find that while they both sounded sweet, they sounded nothing alike.

Lissa’s laughter tapered off into a shivering sigh, and she murmured, “I’m not your responsibility anymore, Lon’qu. You don’t have to look out for me.”

Lon’qu nodded; “I know. That’d be much easier.”

The princess’ blonde brows furrowed together; “I don’t get it.”

The swordsman leaned back against the carriage wall; “A long time ago there was a girl I couldn’t save. Losing her made me the wreck you know– a coward who can't even be near a woman without thinking she’ll die and freezing up in fear.”

Lissa’s sharp gasp almost made him jump, but she quickly started babbling in a wavering voice, “O-oh my _gosh_ Lon’qu why didn’t you say anything?! Protecting me must have been– You must have been– You _aren’t_ a coward there’s nothing for you to be ashamed of, a-and you don’t have to protect me now if–“

His hand shook and shuddered so much he thought he would miss, but Lon’qu managed to put his hand on the top of Lissa’s head. She stopped speaking, instead staring at him wide-eyed with her mouth hanging open. He almost laughed. She looked ridiculous. She also looked cute. She almost looked like her normal self.

“I don’t have to protect you,” Lon’qu stated as resolutely as he could, despite the fact that he was shaking with cold, fear, and whatever came between, “It would be easier for me not to. But I want to. What happened today shouldn’t have happened. I never want to see you like this again. Seeing you in this kind of pain but _still_ thinking about _my_ fears and keeping your distance from me…” he took a deep breath and looked Lissa in the eye, “It hurt as much as when I lost her.”

For a moment, Lissa kept gaping at him. Slowly, she closed her mouth and her eyes drifted towards the floor.

She muttered, “You… you’re not just saying all this to make me feel better?”

Lon’qu couldn’t help another tired smirk; “Does that sound like me?”

The princess snorted with a little smile of her own; “No. _Gods_ no. You’d sooner die.”

Lon’qu nodded, his shaking starting to taper off into a light shiver; “I want to stay with you and protect you. Always. Will you let me?”

Lissa was silent for a loaded second; she carefully reached up to take hold of Lon’qu’s arm, and his breath caught in his throat. He didn’t know what was making this pit in his stomach– that she was touching him, or that she might show her rejection by removing his hand. Lissa gingerly moved his hand so he was touching her cheek and leaned into it with closed eyes, one gentle hand resting on the back of his. And Lon’qu learned how to breathe again.

“Only if you let me watch your back too,” she murmured. “I’m not losing anyone else.”

Lon’qu smiled, his hand on her cheek feeling more and more natural by the second; “You won’t. We’ll make sure of it.”

She looked him in the eye; “Together?”

“Together. No more distance.”

She nodded and smiled, the last of her tears sliding down her cheeks; "No more distance."


End file.
